Listeners who like to plunge straight into a story would do well to skip the lengthy preamble. Here, Balzac the virtuoso satirist depicts the levels of Parisian society as a version of the Inferno of Dante - but perhaps keeps the reader waiting too long for the first act of his operatic extravaganza.
Our beautiful, androgynous hero, Henri de Marsay, is one of the bastard offspring of a depraved Regency milord and himself practises the cynical arts of the libertine. His quarry is the exotic Paquita Valdes, she of the golden eyes.
But there is a mysterious third person in this liaison...
The shocking truth of their interrelationships marks this out at once as one of those French novels that Lady Bracknell would instantly ban from the house. (Summary by Martin Geeson)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/girl_with_golden_eyes_mg_librivox/girlwithgoldeneyes_01_balzac_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://ia600307.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/4/items/olcovers643/olcovers643-L.zip&file=6436030-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":3750,"book_guid":"bbbec5ece5d1364a33b1024dac9c94d1","book_rating":2,"book_votes":2,"score":0.1111,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"romance|published 1800 -1900","language_names":"English"},{"id":54200,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Beowulf","book_author":"Unknown","book_description":"Beowulf. [Translated by Francis Barton Gummere].This is a short but beautiful book, and the Gummere translation really captures the feel of the Old English. Beowulf tells the story of a mysterious young warrior who saves the Spear-Danes from the terrible monster Grendel and his venomous mother. Long a mainstay of English Literature 101 courses at universities around the world, it is not only one of the oldest, but one of the most exciting English folktales ever invented. (Summary by Caeristhiona)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/beowulf/beowulf_01_gummere_64kb.mp3","book_image":null,"book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":151,"book_guid":"618076b3dbf2f775cf5d663ca9127aa6","book_rating":3,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0952,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"action & adventure fiction|poetry","language_names":"English"},{"id":54578,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Extraordinary Adventures of Ars\u00e8ne Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar","book_author":"Leblanc, Maurice","book_description":"A contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle, Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941) was the creator of the character of gentleman thief Ars\u00e8ne Lupin who, in France, has enjoyed a popularity as long-lasting and considerable as Sherlock Holmes in the English-speaking world. This is the delightful first of twenty volumes in the Ars\u00e8ne Lupin series written by Leblanc himself. In an unprecedented act of literary pastiche and cross-over, Sherlock Holmes and Lupin actually meet, briefly in this first volume, and more substantially in the next. But after legal objections from Conan Doyle, the name was changed to \"Herlock Sholmes.\" (adapted from Wikipedia by a.r.dobbs)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/extraordinary_lupin/extra_lupin_1_leblanc_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/8915005-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":608,"book_guid":"20e8cd923c83971371fd3b05120c9117","book_rating":3,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0741,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"detective fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":57459,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Sense and Sensibility (version 4)","book_author":"Austen, Jane","book_description":"When Mr Henry Dashwood dies, with his estate entailed to his son and grandson, his wife and three daughters are left in reduced circumstances. In their new home at Barton Cottage, the two older sisters, Elinor and Marianne, experience both romance and heartache. Will they find true love? (Introduction by Karen Savage)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/sense_sensibility_1104_librivox/sense-sensibility_01_austen_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/9278292-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":4358,"book_guid":"233b0ef8bd3ccfd2951e703be17948c4","book_rating":5,"book_votes":16,"score":0.0574,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"general fiction|romance","language_names":"English"},{"id":54459,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Treasure Island","book_author":"Stevenson, Robert Louis","book_description":"
Treasure Island is an adventure novel, a thrilling tale of \"buccaneers and buried gold.\" Traditionally considered a coming of age story, it is an adventure tale of superb atmosphere, character and action, and also a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality\u2014as seen in Long John Silver\u2014unusual for children's literature then and now. (Summary from wikipedia.org)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/treasureisland_librivox/treasure_island_01-02_stevenson_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/8229197-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":449,"book_guid":"58900720a21e7cb91b08c029dc1c3908","book_rating":3,"book_votes":5,"score":0.0444,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"action & adventure fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":54552,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Oliver Twist","book_author":"Dickens, Charles","book_description":"Oliver Twist is an 1838 novel by Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial.
Like most of Dickens' work, the book is used to call the public's attention to various contemporary social evils, including the workhouse, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals. The novel is full of sarcasm and dark humour, even as it treats its serious subject, revealing the hypocrisies of the time.
It has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations, and the basis for a highly successful British musical, Oliver!. (Summary from wikipedia)
\"The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time. The Art of War is one of the oldest and most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on both military planning and beyond. The Art of War has also been applied, with much success, to business and managerial strategies.\" (summary from Wikipedia)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/art_of_war_librivox/art_of_war_01-02_sun_tzu_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://www.digitalbook.io/covers/The_Art_of_War.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":119,"book_guid":"dde384cea887710191f27841fd8e44f8","book_rating":4,"book_votes":20,"score":0.0404,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"war & military","language_names":"English"},{"id":54609,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Phantom of the Opera","book_author":"Leroux, Gaston","book_description":"An old theatre under new management; a diva who thinks she can sing; a young ingenue who really can; a masked man who wreaks havoc if he doesn't get his own way. Secrets, intrigues, falling chandeliers! The Phantom of the Opera is here! (Summary by Karen Savage)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/phantom6_librivox/phantom_00_leroux_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://www.digitalbook.io/covers/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":652,"book_guid":"5504402dd216fbaf30c29615537d3060","book_rating":4,"book_votes":5,"score":0.037,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"horror & supernatural fiction|plays|romance|drama|tragedy","language_names":"English"},{"id":54880,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home","book_author":"Post, Emily","book_description":"From advice on planning the perfect wedding to eating an artichoke correctly, Emily Post offers instruction on how to live a well-mannered life circa 1922. With a sometimes gentle, sometimes sharp wit, she maintains that true ladies and gentlemen are characterized not by wealth but by their behavior toward others. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/etiquette_0709_librivox/etiquette_00_post_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://ia802703.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/21/items/olcovers199/olcovers199-L.zip&file=1990980-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":1031,"book_guid":"eb6d0b72d7de22c64d3328c75aaf98ef","book_rating":5,"book_votes":1,"score":0.037,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"self-help","language_names":"English"},{"id":54449,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"War of the Worlds","book_author":"Wells, H. G.","book_description":"IMPORTANT NOTE: \"War of the Worlds\"; is still under copyright in UK and EU (until 1st Jan, 2017). If you are in these jurisdictions, downloading this audiobook will be a violation of copyright law.
H. G. Wells wrote The War of the Worlds in 1898, when there was much speculation about life on the planet Mars. The book is considered to be one of the first science fiction novels. In the story, an English gentleman narrates the events of a violent and fast paced Martian invasion.The frightening images of people fleeing from gigantic tripod machines and the prospect of life under Martian rule have served as a bottomless well of inspiration for popular culture. The novel has served as a template for many derivative or inspired works, including comics, countless books, a tv series, several films, a bestselling musical, and the famous Orson Wells broadcast. Overall, The War of the Worlds has become an early milestone in and inspiration for the invasion genre.
The novel demonstrates Wells' typical pessimistic outlook on human nature and offers a good deal of critisism on society and people's ignorance and vanity. The War of the Worlds can be read as an indictment of European colonial actions around the globe at that time - with which the injustice of the Martian invasion can be compared. Wells has since been credited with predicting quite a number of technologies, such as laser-like rays, industrial robot-like machines, and chemical-warfare.
(Summary by Stephan M\u00f6bius and Annie Coleman)
Illustrations by Stephan M\u00f6bius
Book 1 - Chapter 1: Map of Surrey
Book 1 - Chapter 5: The Cylinder Opens - 1, The Cylinder Opens - 2
Book 1 - Chapter 11: In the Storm
Book 1 - Chapter 12: At the Window
Book 1 - Chapter 16: What Had Happened in Surrey
Book 1 - Chapter 17: The Exodus from London
Book 2 - Chapter 2: Under Foot
Little Women is the classic story of The March family, which consists of Mr. and Mrs. March and their four girls--Practical, yet fashion conscious Meg, who longs for the nice things they used to have. Rambunctious, book worm, Jo, who wants to become a writer and wishes she were born a boy. Shy and quiet, home-loving Beth, who loves to play the piano and play with her kitties. Finally, the youngest, artistic Amy, who longs for an aristocratic nose!
The story takes place during the American Civil War, and begins with Mr. March away from home as a chaplain to the Union army, while his wife and daughters remain at home to work and wait for his safe return. This book follows their joys and sorrows and scrapes along the path to the girl's becoming grown up \"little women\". Many of the scrapes they get into include Laurie--their harum scarum next door neighbor, who becomes their adopted brother. The two families, The March's and the Laurence's strike up a lasting friendship, despite their differences in material belongings. (Summary by Mary Anderson)","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/little_women_0711_librivox/littlewomen_01_alcott_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://ia801304.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/23/items/olcovers679/olcovers679-L.zip&file=6795866-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":628,"book_guid":"e4c0c90f56a47d520ce169f734832ab2","book_rating":4,"book_votes":36,"score":0.0155,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"children's fiction|general fiction|young adult","language_names":"English"},{"id":54692,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Mysterious Island","book_author":"Verne, Jules","book_description":"A story of castaways, similar to Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson, this book details the escape from Civil War-era Richmond, Virginia, of five Northern men who dared to go aloft in a balloon in the midst of a hurricane. Deposited on a lonely island in the Pacific, they make do with Yankee ingenuity where Chance has left them nothing. Only later do they find they have a hidden benefactor: Captain Nemo, of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, who resides, alone, secretly on the island. In time, the tiny colony becomes so prosperous that it is able to rescue another castaway from an island a hundred miles away. But all their work will come to naught - their island's volcano is about to awake!(Summary by Mark)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/mysterious_island_ms_librivox/mysterious_island_1_01_verne_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/12621928-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":783,"book_guid":"882b675f0b46ac5e2f66c441d3f09512","book_rating":4,"book_votes":5,"score":0.0155,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"science fiction|fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":54169,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Wind in the Willows","book_author":"Grahame, Kenneth","book_description":"This much-loved story follows a group of animal friends in the English countryside as they pursue adventure \u2026 and as adventure pursues them! The chief characters - Mole, Rat, and Toad - generally lead upbeat and happy lives, but their tales are leavened with moments of terror, homesickness, awe, madcap antics, and derring-do.","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/wind_in_the_willows_collab_librivox/wind_in_the_willows_01_grahame_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/10480400-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":94,"book_guid":"8e0d0cded7f3d0b258ad757758bf5fd3","book_rating":4,"book_votes":119,"score":0.0152,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"children's fiction|fantastic fiction|animals|children","language_names":"English"},{"id":54675,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Candide","book_author":"Voltaire","book_description":"Candide, ou l\u2019Optimisme, (\u201cCandide, or Optimism\u201d) (1759) is a picaresque novel by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. Voltaire never openly admitted to having written the controversial Candide; the work is signed with a pseudonym: \u201cMonsieur le docteur Ralph\u201d, literally \u201cMister Doctor Ralph.\u201dSardonic in outlook, it follows the na\u00efve protagonist Candide from his first exposure to the precept that \u201call is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds,\u201d and on through a series of adventures that dramatically disprove that precept even as the protagonist clings to it.The novel satirizes na\u00efve interpretations of the philosophy of Gottfried Leibniz and is a showcase of the horrors of the 18th century world. In Candide, Leibniz is represented by the philosopher Pangloss, the tutor of the title character. Despite a series of misfortunes and misadventures, which include being present at the Lisbon Earthquake, Pangloss continually asserts that \u201cTout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles\u201d (\u201cAll is for the best in the best of all possible worlds\u201d). The novel ends with Candide finally rejecting the optimism espoused by Pangloss, saying, \u201cIl faut cultiver notre jardin\u201d (\u201cIt is necessary to cultivate our garden\u201d). Summary from Wikipedia
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/candide01_librivox/candide_00_voltaire_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/12736044-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":761,"book_guid":"7f2950e1568b18e31842add54965ac82","book_rating":5,"book_votes":7,"score":0.0144,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"fantastic fiction|fantasy","language_names":"English"},{"id":54281,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Pride and Prejudice","book_author":"Austen, Jane","book_description":"
Pride and Prejudice is the most famous of Jane Austen\u2019s novels, and its opening is one of the most famous lines in English literature - \u201cIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.\u201d\u009d Its manuscript was first written between 1796 and 1797, and was initially called First Impressions, but was never published under that title. Following revisions it was published on 28 January 1813 by the same Mr. Egerton of the Military Library, Whitehall, who had brought out Sense and Sensibility. Like both its predecessor and Northanger Abbey, it was written at Steventon Rectory.
(Summary from wikipedia)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain is one of the truly great American novels, beloved by children, adults, and literary critics alike. The book tells the story of \u201cHuck\u201d Finn (first introduced as Tom Sawyer\u2019s sidekick in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), his friend Jim, and their journey down the Mississippi River on a raft. Both are on the run, Huck from his drunk and abusive father, and Jim as a runaway slave.
As Huck and Jim drift down the river, they meet many colorful characters and have many great adventures. The true heart of the story, however, is the friendship between Huck and Jim. A constant theme throughout the book is Huck\u2019s internal struggle between what he has been taught, that helping a runaway slave is a sin, and what he truly believes, that Jim is a good man and it couldn\u2019t possibly be wrong to help him.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was unique at the time of its publication (1884) because it is narrated by Huck himself and is written in the numerous dialects common in the area and time in which the book is set. Although the book was originally intended as a sequel to the children\u2019s book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as Twain wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn it progressed into a more serious work. Twain\u2019s views on slavery and other social issues of the time become clear through the words, thoughts, and actions of Huck Finn. The book has always been the subject of great controversy, and according to The American Library Association it was fifth on the list of most frequently challenged books in the 1990s.
(Summary by Annie Coleman)
\"Jesus of Nazareth, a Biography, by John Mark,\" recognizes the author of the second Gospel as that \"John, whose surname was Mark\" (Acts 15:37), whom Barnabas chose as companion when he sailed for Cyprus on his second missionary journey. In making use of the new title, the plan of the Editor is to present \"The Gospel: According to Mark\" as it would be printed were it written in the twentieth rather than the first century. (Introduction from Forward, by D. Appleton & Co, Publishers, 1922)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/jesus_nazareth_1009_librivox/jesusofnazareth_01_johnmark_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://ia801403.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/27/items/olcovers184/olcovers184-L.zip&file=1849040-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":4688,"book_guid":"c047b5b2ed00397d4d7e11e10d169ef1","book_rating":5,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0106,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"king james version","language_names":"English"},{"id":56408,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Short Ghost and Horror Collection 003","book_author":"Various","book_description":"A collection of fifteen stories featuring ghoulies, ghosties, long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night. Expect shivers up your spine, the smell of human flesh, and the occasional touch of wonder.
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/short_ghohor_003_librivox/ghohor003_beautifulsuit_wells_smh_64kb.mp3","book_image":null,"book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":3005,"book_guid":"941db37b38b05c95a6942e00dfea038d","book_rating":5,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0103,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"horror & supernatural fiction|short stories","language_names":"English"},{"id":56475,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Success","book_author":"Brooke, Rupert","book_description":"","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/boy_scout_dw_librivox/boyscout_00_davis_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://ia800605.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/34/items/olcovers208/olcovers208-L.zip&file=2086633-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":6382,"book_guid":"9d4218e3fda94a0d4c8d43401ea41c6f","book_rating":5,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0098,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"children's fiction|action & adventure|short works","language_names":"English"},{"id":54148,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Secret Garden","book_author":"Burnett, Frances Hodgson","book_description":"Mary Lennox is a spoiled, middle-class, self-centred child who has been recently orphaned. She is accepted into the quiet and remote country house of an uncle, who has almost completely withdrawn into himself after the death of his wife. Mary gradually becomes drawn into the hidden side of the house: why does she hear the crying of a unseen child? Why is there an overgrown, walled garden, its door long locked? (Summary by Peter)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/secret_garden_librivox/secretgarden_01_burnett_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://www.digitalbook.io/covers/Secret_Garden.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":56,"book_guid":"eb1d6c9fbb29820b60ea08fe821570be","book_rating":4,"book_votes":16,"score":0.0097,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"children's fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":54220,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"History of England, from the Accession of James II - (Volume 1, Chapter 05)","book_author":"Macaulay, Thomas Babington","book_description":"This chapter of Macaulay\u2019s, History of England is concerned, for a large part, with insurrection against James II and his manoeuverings to suppress these. Argyle has been sheltering in Holland and returns to raise an army against James. Although brave and quick witted, he was no leader of men and the army became a confused rabble and were dispersed. Argyle was captured and died bravely. Monmouth had also been sheltering in Holland and he landed at Lyme and declared himself king on 20th June 1685. He was defeated at the battle of Sedgemoor and eventually caught and executed. Monmouth is a fine romantic and of course ultimately tragic figure. The chapter comes to an end with the Bloody Assizes and the very bloody Judge Jeffries.
Summary by Jim Mowatt
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/historyofengland05/historyofengland01ch05_01_macaulay_64kb.mp3","book_image":null,"book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":184,"book_guid":"f128075ae0cde559b7c515afb15a4c5e","book_rating":3,"book_votes":2,"score":0.0085,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"history","language_names":"English"},{"id":54234,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland","book_author":"Carroll, Lewis","book_description":"In this children's classic, a girl named Alice follows falls down a rabbit-hole into a fantasy realm full of talking creatures. She attends a never-ending tea party and plays croquet at the court of the anthropomorphic playing cards. (Summary written by Gesine)
\"I loved all the voices in this project and probably wouldn\u2019t have put the time into checking into this book without this LibriVox version of it. Great project and well done by all. What people can do really amazes me from time to time. This reminds me of how beautiful the world can be.\" \u2014 skinned mink
Allen's books illustrate the use of the power of thought to increase personal capabilities. Although he never achieved great fame or wealth, his works continue to influence people around the world, including the New Thought movement.
Allen's most famous book, As a Man Thinketh, was published in 1902. It is now considered a classic self-help book. Its underlying premise is that noble thoughts make a noble person, while lowly thoughts make a miserable person. (Summary by Wikipedia)
English Synonyms and Antonyms is basically a vocabulary builder that students might use as they prepare for entrance or exit exams. Each entry gives a list of synonyms, followed by a paragraph that briefly explains or exemplifies the subtle distinctions between the listed words. The entries sometimes close with a few words on the prepositions that follow selected synonyms, but more often with a list of antonyms.
By \"synonyms\" we usually understand words that coincide or nearly coincide in some part of their meaning, and may hence within certain limits be used interchangeably, while outside of those limits they may differ very greatly in meaning and use. It is the office of a work on synonyms to point out these correspondences and differences, that language may have the flexibility that comes from freedom of selection within the common limits, with the perspicuity and precision that result from exact choice of the fittest words to express each shade of meaning outside of the common limits. (Summary by DSayers and the author from the entry \"Synonymous\")
The year is 1871, and wealthy ranch owner Jane Withersteen is in trouble. She has incurred the displeasure of her Mormon church leaders by refusing to marry a church elder and by befriending Gentiles (non-Mormons). In rides Lassiter, the quintessential Western hero: mysterious, purposeful, a deadly gunslinger, but with an unexpected streak of gentleness. While Lassiter is assisting Jane at the ranch, her friend and rider Bern Venters is having an adventure of his own in the Utah canyonlands. Riders of the Purple Sage is a story of heroism, love, brave men and strong women, good dogs and fast horses. And who is that Masked Rider? (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/riderspurplesage_law_librivox/purplesage_01_grey_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://ia601501.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/27/items/olcovers87/olcovers87-L.zip&file=872066-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":1741,"book_guid":"4578f3265bf43831adf3ebaeed06b999","book_rating":2,"book_votes":5,"score":0.0079,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"westerns","language_names":"English"},{"id":54352,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Wonderful Wizard of Oz","book_author":"Baum, L. Frank","book_description":"The timeless story of the Wizard Of Oz. Follow Dorothy as she leaves Kansas for Oz on a cyclone. She meets many strange, and wonderful people and creatures along the way. Enjoy it again with your children and family.","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/wizard_of_oz/wizardofoz_00_baum_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/12376358-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":332,"book_guid":"e7315b9986db15dc3ee6eb9d8ec23ed5","book_rating":4,"book_votes":2,"score":0.0078,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"general","language_names":"English"},{"id":55827,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Haunted Bookshop","book_author":"Morley, Christopher","book_description":"Roger Mifflin is the somewhat eccentric proprietor of The Haunted Bookshop, a second-hand bookstore in Brooklyn that is \"haunted by the ghosts of all great literature.\" Beginning with the arrival of a young advertising man and the mysterious disappearance of a certain volume from the shelves of the bookshop, a lively and often humorous tale of intrigue unfolds, generously sprinkled with liberal doses of Roger's unique philosophy on literature and book selling. (Summary by J. M. Smallheer)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/hauntedbookshop_0807_librivox/hauntedbookshop_01_morley_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/12622136-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":2215,"book_guid":"6a474f8382f3a8beecb9c42113887941","book_rating":5,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0077,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"crime & mystery fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":58187,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Art of Money Getting","book_author":"Barnum, P. T.","book_description":"Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 \u2013 April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts was first published in 1881 and staged in 1882, and like his earlier play A Doll's House, profoundly shocked his contemporaries. Dubbed \"a dirty deed done in public\" by one of its critics, the play focuses on (among other things) venereal disease, euthanasia, and incest. The original title literally means \"the ones who return,\" and the play is about how we can deal with the awful legacy of the past. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)
Cast:This is the second of five books of short stories about G. K. Chesterton\u2019s fictional detective, first published in 1914. Father Brown is a short, nondescript Catholic Priest with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella who has an uncanny insight into human evil. His methods, unlike those of his near contemporary Sherlock Holmes, although based on observation of details often unnoticed by others, tended to be intuitive rather than deductive. Although clearly devout, he always emphasizes rationality: despite his religiousness and his belief in God and miracles, he manages to see the perfectly ordinary, natural explanation of the problem. He is a devout, educated and \"civilized\" clergyman, who is totally familiar with contemporary and secular thought and behavior. His character was thought to be based on Father John O'Connor (1870 - 1952), a parish priest in Bradford, Yorkshire. (Summary by Martin)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/wisdom_father_brown_librivox/the_wisdom_of_father_brown_01_chesterton_mac_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://ia600602.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/5/items/olcovers259/olcovers259-L.zip&file=2598178-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":440,"book_guid":"2388e23bccdcf5130dde7b13efb841f3","book_rating":1,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0071,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"detective fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":54299,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Dracula","book_author":"Stoker, Bram","book_description":"The classic vampire story by Bram Stoker revolves around a struggle between good and evil, tradition and modernity, and lust versus chastity. The author didn\u2019t invent vampires, but his novel has so captured the public\u2019s imagination that he is rightly considered their popularizer. Listen and you will meet not only the Count himself, but heroes Jonathan Harker and Abraham Van Helsing, plus an array of madmen, psychiatrists, and fair maidens who cross paths with the fanged menace. (Summary by Paula)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/dracula_librivox/dracula_01_stoker_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://ia800603.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/6/items/olcovers10/olcovers10-L.zip&file=106193-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":271,"book_guid":"da54a93fec9a067cab98a89d33077e44","book_rating":3,"book_votes":12,"score":0.0067,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"horror & supernatural fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":54618,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Woman in White","book_author":"Collins, Wilkie","book_description":"The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859-1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be to the first mystery novel, and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of \u2019sensation novels\u2019\u2026.","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/secret_garden_version2_librivox/secretgarden_01_burnett_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://www.digitalbook.io/covers/Secret_Garden.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":2694,"book_guid":"678d7c31693b740d2ef5076daa77ce85","book_rating":4,"book_votes":37,"score":0.0061,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"children's fiction|detective fiction|animals|nature|philosophy|children","language_names":"English"},{"id":54190,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Calendar of Sonnets","book_author":"Jackson, Helen Hunt","book_description":"Helen Hunt Jackson is probably most famous for her work on behalf of Native Americans\u2019 rights. However, this short volume presents a sonnet for each month of the year, devoted simply and beautifully to the shifting wonder of nature through the seasons. (Summary by Laura Fox)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/calendar_of_sonnets_librivox/calendar_sonnets_01_jackson_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://ia600608.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/5/items/olcovers560/olcovers560-L.zip&file=5604607-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":139,"book_guid":"1b4f26e46a13baabd4dca3a770a41aaf","book_rating":5,"book_votes":5,"score":0.0058,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"sonnets","language_names":"English"},{"id":56276,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"House to Let","book_author":"Collins, Wilkie","book_description":"A mysterious map, pirates, and pieces of eight! When young Jim Hawkins finds a map to pirates\u2019 gold he starts on an adventure that takes him from his English village to a desert island with the murderous Black Dog, half-mad Ben Gunn, and (of course) Long John Silver. Arr Jim lad! R.L. Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Scotland and travelled extensively in California and the south Pacific. (Summary by Adrian Praetzellis)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/treasure_island_ap_librivox/treasure_island_01-02_stevenson_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/8229197-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":1557,"book_guid":"10897943ab6567b0bb563f89c2d340","book_rating":4,"book_votes":7,"score":0.0056,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"children's fiction|action & adventure|children","language_names":"English"},{"id":59423,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Version 2)","book_author":"Irving, Washington","book_description":"\"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow\" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820. It was based on a German folktale set in the Dutch culture of Post-Revolutionary War in New York State. With Irving's companion piece \"Rip Van Winkle\", it is among the earliest examples of American fiction still read today. (Summary by Wikipedia)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/sleepyhollow_1206_librivox/legendofsleepyhollow_01_irving_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/10420202-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":6762,"book_guid":"7b2fba0ee5a3c52f89e2621490b0aa55","book_rating":5,"book_votes":5,"score":0.0056,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"horror & supernatural fiction|horror","language_names":"English"},{"id":57203,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Pride and Prejudice (version 4)","book_author":"Austen, Jane","book_description":"Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen's classic comic romance, in which the five Bennett sisters try to find that most elusive creature: a single man in possession of a large fortune. Sparks fly when sweet, pretty Jane meets their new neighbor, Mr. Bingley, but her sister Elizabeth is most offended by his haughty friend, Mr. Darcy. This is Austen at the height of her powers: the ironic narration, hilariously drawn supporting characters, and romantic suspense make this her most enduringly popular novel. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/prideandprejudice_1005_librivox/prideandprejudice_01_austen_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/12648793-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":4023,"book_guid":"e6888ad87a82d0b26b53c27cba8bf920","book_rating":4,"book_votes":10,"score":0.0052,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"general fiction|romance","language_names":"English"},{"id":54795,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Tales of Terror and Mystery","book_author":"Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan","book_description":"Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his detective stories, he also wrote other short stories which are masterpieces of mystery and suspense. In some of the stories in \"Tales of Terror and Mystery\", a suppressed uneasiness gradually builds up and evolves into sheer terror. In others, the story line unexpectedly changes and comes to a horrific conclusion.
Sit back in the comfort of your armchair and let yourself be transported to the strange but compelling world created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/terror_mystery_0707_librivox/talesofterror_01_doyle_64kb.mp3","book_image":null,"book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":925,"book_guid":"e05ea6a8fa3f41aeded3d41bf0c4abd","book_rating":5,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0051,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"horror & supernatural fiction|detective fiction|short stories|horror","language_names":"English"},{"id":54165,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Emma","book_author":"Austen, Jane","book_description":"Sherry reads Jane Austen\u2019s sparkling comedy of manners with wit and vivacity, and brings the characters to life. Mr. Woodhouse worries and frets, Miss Bates chatters on, and Emma blithely manipulates and misunderstands her friends and family until she finally learns her lesson! (Summary by Kara)","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/emma_solo_librivox/emma_01_01_austen_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://www.digitalbook.io/covers/Emma.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":86,"book_guid":"704706d437845718efd56636a0ba4eca","book_rating":4,"book_votes":25,"score":0.005,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"humorous fiction|romance|fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":54272,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Romeo and Juliet","book_author":"Shakespeare, William","book_description":"
Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most famous of Shakespeare\u2019s plays and is thought to be the most famous love story in Western history. It concerns the fate of two very young lovers who would do anything to be together.
The Montagues and the Capulets of Verona, Italy, are in the midst of a long-standing feud when Romeo Montague drops in on a masquerade party at the Capulets\u2019. While there he meets and woos the daughter of the house, Juliet. She likewise returns his passion, and their secret meeting later that night on her bedroom balcony begins a series of tragic events that no one could have foretold.
(Summary by Becky Crackel)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/romeo_and_juliet_librivox/Romeo_and_Juliet_Act_1_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://www.digitalbook.io/covers/Romeo_and_Juliet.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":243,"book_guid":"bc784e904882b3c9c58916b36edbb29b","book_rating":4,"book_votes":44,"score":0.0049,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"plays|romance","language_names":"English"},{"id":54364,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Twelfth Night","book_author":"Shakespeare, William","book_description":"Hidden and mistaken identities, requited and unrequited loves, pranks and jokes abound in this romantic comedy. (Summary by Karen Savage)The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, p\u00e8re. It is often considered, along with The Three Musketeers, as Dumas's most popular work. The writing of the work was completed in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from the plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.
The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815\u20131838 (from just before the Hundred Days through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. It is primarily concerned with themes of justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness, and is told in the style of an adventure story. (Summary from Wikipedia)
This book contains alternate versions of a number of chapters \u2013 indicated by an alt after the file number. The Zip files contain both versions of these chapters.
There are 2 versions of the M4Bs made , one containing the original files for these chapters (4 parts), the other containing the alternate files for the chapters (5 parts).
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/count_monte_cristo_0711_librivox/count_of_monte_cristo_001_dumas_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/10002133-L.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":47,"book_guid":"265fc84cac183f2e3a6212a63913692","book_rating":4,"book_votes":12,"score":0.0046,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"classics (antiquity)|history","language_names":"English"},{"id":54178,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Three Musketeers","book_author":"Dumas, Alexandre","book_description":"The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, p\u00e8re. It recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a musketeer. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis -- inseparable friends who live by the motto, \"One for all, and all for one\".
The Three Musketeers was first published in serial form in the magazine Le Si\u00e8cle between March and July 1844. Dumas claimed it was based on manuscripts he had discovered in the Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale. It was later proven that Dumas had based his work on the book M\u00e9moires de Monsieur D'Artagnan, capitaine lieutenant de la premi\u00e8re compagnie des Mousquetaires du Roi (Memoirs of Mister D'Artagnan, Lieutenant Captain of the first company of the King's Musketeers) by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (Cologne, 1700).
Dumas' version of the story covers the adventures of D'Artagnan and his friends from 1625 to 1628, as they are involved in intrigues involving the weak King Louis XIII of France, his powerful and cunning advisor Cardinal Richelieu, the beautiful Queen Anne of Austria, her English lover, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and the Siege of La Rochelle. Adding to the intrigue are the mysterious Milady de Winter, and Richelieu's right-hand man, the Comte de Rochefort. (summary from wikipedia)
Get Twenty Years After here.
Get The Man in the Iron Mask here.
Don Quixote is an early novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Cervantes created a fictional origin for the story in the character of the Morisco historian, Cide Hamete Benengeli, whom he claims to have hired to translate the story from an Arabic manuscript he found in Toledo's bedraggled old Jewish quarter.
The protagonist, Alonso Quixano, is a minor landowner who has read so many stories of chivalry that he descends into fantasy and becomes convinced he is a knight errant. Together with his companion Sancho Panza, the self-styled Don Quixote de la Mancha sets out in search of adventures. His \"lady\" is Dulcinea del Toboso, an imaginary object of his courtly love crafted from a neighbouring farmgirl by the illusion-struck \"knight\" (her real name is Aldonza Lorenzo, and she is totally unaware of his feelings for her. In addition, she never actually appears in the novel).
Published in two volumes a decade apart, Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and perhaps the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears at or near the top of lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published. (Summary from Wikipedia)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/don_quixote_vol1_librivox/quixote_vol1_01a_cervantes_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://www.digitalbook.io/covers/Don_Quixote_Vol1.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":480,"book_guid":"b2df3bc79888c94d8b6d4ffb75a6070c","book_rating":3,"book_votes":3,"score":0.0044,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"action & adventure fiction|general fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":55360,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Horror Story Collection 002","book_author":"Various","book_description":"An occasional collection of 10 horror stories by various readers. We aim to unsettle you a little, to cut through the pink cushion of illusion that shields you from the horrible realities of life. Here are the walking dead, the fetid pools of slime, the howls in the night that you thought you had confined to your more unpleasant dreams.","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/horror_002_librivox/01_a_ghouls_accountant_crane_jlb_64kb.mp3","book_image":null,"book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":1618,"book_guid":"28a44f6cfaa5b9b02bbcc88e58d9ca15","book_rating":2,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0043,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"horror & supernatural fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":57587,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (version 5 dramatic reading)","book_author":"Carroll, Lewis","book_description":"This classic tale by Lewis Carroll has delighted children for generations. Alice falls down a rabbit hole and encounters a wide variety of strange and wonderful creatures in all manner of bizarre situations. Join Alice as she journeys through Wonderland, trying to make sense of what she finds there. This version is read dramatically, with different readers voicing the different characters. (Summary by Lucy Perry)
Cast
Narrator: David Goldfarb
Alice: Miss Avarice
The White Rabbit: BellonaTimes
Mouse: cher0520
Lory: Availle
Duck: Jessamy Gloor
Dodo: Tim Ferreira
Eaglet: Dennis D.
Old Crab: Joshua Logan
Young Crab: Sonja
Magpie: Lucy Perry
Canary: ElleyKat
Pat: Terence Taylor
Bill: Aidan Brack
Guinea Pig 1: Rat King
Guinea Pig 2: Kelseigh
Caterpillar: Algy Pug
Pigeon: Kelseigh
Fish-Footman: Terence
Frog-Footman: Peter Yearsley
Cook: Ana
Baby: Elizabeth Klett
Duchess: Heather Phillips
Cheshire Cat: Elizabeth Klett
March Hare: Denny Sayers
Hatter: Arielle Lipshaw
Dormouse: Ruth Golding
Five: Neeru Iyer
Two: Elli
Seven: Henry Frigon
Soldier 1: Dennis D.
Soldier 2: Philbert
Soldier 3: Lucy Perry
Queen of Hearts: Nadine Eckert-Boulet
King of Hearts: Peter Yearsley
Gryphon: Algy Pug
Mock Turtle: Kara Shallenberg
Knave of Hearts: Levi Throckmorton
Alice's Sister: Diana Majlinger
Audio edited by Elizabeth Klett and Arielle Lipshaw
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/aliceinwonderland_1102_librivox/aliceinwonderland_00_carroll_64kb.mp3","book_image":null,"book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":4511,"book_guid":"e7c02c60dbd06fad24e346e83600b157","book_rating":4,"book_votes":1,"score":0.0043,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"children's fiction|dramatic readings","language_names":"English"},{"id":55939,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (version 3)","book_author":"Twain, Mark","book_description":"The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River, and its sober and often scathing look at entrenched attitudes, particularly racism. The drifting journey of Huck and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, down the Mississippi River on their raft may be one of the most enduring images of escape and freedom in all of American literature.
The book has been popular with young readers since its publication, and taken as a sequel to the comparatively innocuous The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It has also been the continued object of study by serious literary critics. Although the Southern society it satirized was already a quarter-century in the past by the time of publication, the book immediately became controversial, and has remained so to this day.(Summary from Wikipedia)
The novel tells of the troubles of a wealthy young girl, Sara Crewe, who is sent to an oppressive London boarding school during her father\u2019s campaign in India. Thanks to Capt. Crewe\u2019s money, Sara is treated as a little princess until, one day, word comes of her father\u2019s tragic death. Miss Minchin, the school\u2019s greedy headmistress, wastes no time in putting the now-penniless Sara to work for her room and board. It is only through the friendship of two other girls, her own resolute nature, and some astonishing luck that Sara eventually finds her way back to happiness. (Summary from wikipedia.org)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/littleprincess_librivox/littleprincess_01_burnett_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://www.digitalbook.io/covers/Little_Princess.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":175,"book_guid":"b803f5b7702af773f6de6f335ba427fa","book_rating":5,"book_votes":1,"score":0.004,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"children's fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":54396,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus","book_author":"Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft","book_description":" A student discovers the secret of animating lifeless matter and, by assembling body parts, creates the monster Frankenstein. Rejected by society, Frankenstein vows revenge on his creator.
(Summary written by Gesine) Note: Project originally cataloged October 20, 2005. Audio files were volume adjusted and re-uploaded May 3, 2010.
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K. Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford.
The book was intended initially to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history of places along the route, but the humorous elements eventually took over, to the point where the serious and somewhat sentimental passages now seem like an unnecessary distraction to the essentially comic novel. One of the most praised things about Three Men in a Boat is how undated it appears to modern readers. The jokes seem fresh and witty even today.
The three men were based on Jerome himself and two real-life friends, George, and Harris. The dog, Montmorency, however, was entirely fictional, but, as Jerome had remarked, \"had much of me in it.\" (Summary from Wikipedia)","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/three_men_boat_librivox/3meninaboat_01_jerome_64kb.mp3","book_image":null,"book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":654,"book_guid":"b8ed49f6524c81288ae9ec4082f0795f","book_rating":5,"book_votes":3,"score":0.004,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"humorous fiction|animals|nature|fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":54191,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Christmas Carol","book_author":"Dickens, Charles","book_description":"
A classic tale of what comes to those whose hearts are hard. In a series of ghostly visits, Scrooge visits his happy past, sees the difficulties of the present, views a bleak future, and in the end amends his mean ways. (Summary written by Kristen McQuillin)
","book_sample":"https://archive.org/download/A_Christmas_Carol/A_Christmas_Carol_Preface_and_Stave_1_Dickens_64kb.mp3","book_image":"https://www.digitalbook.io/covers/A_Christmas_Carol.jpg","book_url":null,"book_price":0,"book_code":140,"book_guid":"ac6916e4ea730f41eaf79efadf4fceb9","book_rating":4,"book_votes":8,"score":0.0039,"author_names":null,"genre_names":"general fiction|fiction","language_names":"English"},{"id":54391,"book_type":0,"book_provider":1,"book_title":"Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure","book_author":"Cleland, John","book_description":"
Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749) was the first widely-read English novel in the genre \u201cErotica.\u201d It was written by John Cleland as he was serving hard time at a debtor\u2019s prison in London. Over the centuries, the novel has been repeatedly banned by authorities, assuring its preeminent role in the history of the ongoing struggle against censorship of free expression.
Until Fanny Hill, previous heroines had conducted their amorous liaisons \u201coff-stage.\u201d Any erotic misadventures were described euphemistically. As women who had gone astray, they always repented, which made even their most outrageous dalliances somehow suitable for a moralistic readership. The protagonist of Fanny Hill, however, never repented a single moment of her sexual exploits \u2026 quite the contrary! And with Fanny, the devil is in the details, realistically described. (Summary by Denny Mike)
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